Former Sega developers admit they "practically lived at the office," crashing in nap rooms and makeshift floor nests, with one even saying the job "felt more like a club activity" than a company -- until reforms killed off the culture in the 2010s.

When you think Sega, you might picture blue skies, arcades, and the Dreamcast -- but for the devs behind it all, it also meant showering at the office and building a pillow fort under your desk.

Speaking to 4Gamer in an interview, veterans Toru Ohara, Takaharu Terada, and Toru Yoshida described Sega's infamous crunch culture with surprising fondness.

"Some of us practically lived at the office," Yoshida recalled, noting that even in the 1990s Sega's headquarters came with nap rooms and showers, while by the early 2000s their Haneda locations also offered the same setup. When beds were full, "people would make makeshift nests on the floor."

Terada admitted he used Sega's nap rooms as late as 2010 while working on Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Arcade, but by 2012 they were gone -- "likely due to Japanese workstyle reforms" designed to curb endless overtime.

Despite how it sounds, many didn't view it as pure exploitation. Ohara explained: "It didn't really feel like a company; in some ways it felt more like a club activity."

That "club activity" vibe meant not just overtime, but also camaraderie: playing games together late at night, talking through ideas, and sparking creativity in the haze of sleep deprivation. Terada described the experience as equal parts work and play -- long nights of coding or designing punctuated by laughter and shared obsession.

Of course, such nostalgia glosses over the darker side of crunch. Sega eventually phased out the culture as Japan's labor laws tightened, but these veterans see the era as both a badge of honor and a relic of its time.